Proverbs 24:30-34
I went past the field of the sluggard,
past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment;

thorns had come up everywhere,
the ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone wall was in ruins.

I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:

A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-

and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.
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Proverbs 28:19
He who works his land will have abundant food,
but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
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Ecclesiastes 10:18
If a man is lazy, the rafters sag;
if his hands are idle, the house leaks.
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2 Thessalonians 3:6-11
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies.

9 comments:

Thank you for posting these biblical quotes. I am not biblical literate but did know the fable about the ant and the grasshopper and pride myself being an ant. There is so much to be learned from ants. I wonder if the plague of locusts which is a relative to the grasshopper is related to this story?

Great Post. Keep up the good work. My wife and are in the rental business and we see first hand how free handouts make people lazy and dependent on the government. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

A great follow-up to the revised version of the Aesop. In my Catholic parish, our parish Priest has gently reminded all of us that the phrase 'Render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's' does NOT mean we - as Christians - should give our money to an ineffecient government to 'help the poor!' Rather he said, Christ wants us to give individual from within the goodness of our own hearts that which we can afford and which will truly HELP those in need!

This is a thought provoking post. I just happened upon your blog. I love the certainty of your world and the values you live by. And I do believe the world could be a better place if everyone thought this way and understood the joy that comes from consistant contribution to caring to oneself. But in reality, everyone doesn't see things this way and nor have had the life experience or exposure to choose it.

So how do we love our brothers and sisters that don't see things this way or agree? Isn't this the question we toil with as human beings? Can we appreciate those that do not live like us? Can we accept the self-suffering others cause to themselves and not increase it by being judgmental of them?

Can we give them space to see and feel something different rather than chastise? How does change really come about for us to "connect?"

I can't say the government can serve no good at all and nor can I say that individuals are the only source of good. But I can say I wish well of those that suffer to somehow find relief in a way that ends it rather than bandaids it...maybe it's nothing "in the world" that can end suffering, but awareness that we ourselves make our own suffering with how we think.